Teaming with David Nalbandian, Nadal won his first round doubles Tuesday saving two matchpoints, but earlier today the duo withdrew from their quarterfinal match scheduled for later tonight. The reason: “overuse” of Nadal’s knees. Oh boy.

Also playing a role could be the poor playing conditions at the event, a problem pointed out by Rafa and echoed by several other players including Nalbandian.

Nadal remains in the singles for now, he’ll face Joao Souza tomorrow. If the courts don’t improve he could might not be around much longer.

Speaking of Nalbandian, the oft-injured Argentine was back in singles competition today for the first time since August and he came through with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 first round win over qualifier Jorge Aguilar.

“I thought the ball flew a little bit more today than in practice. Overall, I felt I’m moving and striking the ball ok,” said Federer. “It took some time getting used to seeing the ball well again. I was happy with the way I reacted.”

The top seeded Federer plays local Thiemo De Bakker tomorrow. If he wins Federer will meet Juliean Benneteau in the Friday quarterfinals, then perhaps Gilles Simon in the semis. Lurking in the bottom half of the draw are Juan Martin Del Potro and the red hot Richard Gasquet.

JW Tsonga stumbled out earlier in the week after a very poor loss to Dutchman Igor Sisling.

It’s a big week for the WTA in Dubai. With all the oil money available, 14 of the Top 15 turned up for the lucrative event. Tomorrow in third round play World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka meets Christina McHale, Serena faces the other Radwanska while her sister, Agenieszka, takes on Ana Ivanovic. Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki are also in action.

Well it is not surprising he pulled out of doubles. A lot of posters ( including Rafa fans ) were questioning “why doubles?”. Apparently the manifesto didn’t get to the Rafa camp. Now, he says “overuse of knees” is the reason. I think your average intelligent tennis fan could have see that coming, doh!!

Sorry he is going through all this, but the question remains about the care of his knees and tennis schedule

Faces Thiemo De Bakker next.Should be an easy match.Interestingly he has a negative H2H indoors against the next two guys he’ll face after that,Benneteau and Simon.Simon is one of the few current players that Federer dosent have a winning H2H so this tournament is a good opportunity to correct that.

Over used knees: Condition created by playing more than 4 matches in a week. Gets worse with any loss in those matches, and gets better with wins. Typically occurs to those returning from long lay offs. Word has a Spanish origin.

What’d he play? 8-10 matches last week? And already overuse? Either that’s a really bad sign, or he really just doesn’t like the surface. I’m hoping it’s the latter. But if it’s the former, I’m 90% sure we won’t see Nadal at the hard court masters. And I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll see him on hard courts at all this year.

However, he has confirmed to show up at the BNP Champions Showdown right before the Masters events. Indoor, hard court. So, we’ll see.

I believe that it’s the opinion of most analysts that singles players use doubles in lieu of practise, especially when they are returning after a long lay-off from the tour. If it’s true, then not only is doubles eliminating Nadal’s practise time, but also giving him the opportunity to hone his skills. Some players have stated over the years that practising is not as effective as playing an actual match. That said, doubles should be considered productive for Nadal and not a hindrance, but that is only my opinion.

I watched the tail-end of a discussion between Wertheim and some other experts on TC. Jon stated that nowadays there is more focus on money, etc., and that in 2013 we’ll see more more focus on money than ever before. This was apparently about WTA players getting equal pay.

I’m wondering if this is another attempt by Rafa to down-play his progress. IMO, I think Rafa likes to not raise fan and media expectations, and maybe he’s doing just that by by shelving his doubs participation? Perhaps he feels more comfortable with respect to his singles performance and now that he’s feeling more comfortable, then there’s no point over-stresing his knees? Perhaps, yes? No?

Nadal’s recovery has been tepid. What is starkingly evident is that he has not fully recovered and his knees are troubling him. This is a very bad sign and Nadal’s prospects at Rolland Garros this year is a big question mark. I think this year, Novak has a very good chance of making a grand slam especially with Nadal in the sidelines and will not most likely pose a serious challenge to him at Rolland Garros. As history repeats itself, the momentous 2011 might repeat for Novak yet again.

I hope you are right but even with Nadal not at his best (if that is going to be the case) Nole has first to make it to the final of FO. Last year almost didn’t make it (Seppi, Tsonga), year before Federer’s ET perfomance knock him out in SF and there is another few players that can do the same on a good day. We will se how he is going to do next few tournaments (Dubai, IW, Miami and DC) that will give us pretty good idea where he stands before European clay season, mentally and physically. I still hope he is going to skip MC though unlikely since he said just last week that MC and Cincinatti are high on his priority list, just after FO. They are two missing masters.

Michael with all due respect that was Rafas ist tourney back after 7 months of not playing,this is only his 2nd tourney back after not playing,he made the final which was actually some achievement in itself,and you yourself were saying some months ago to the Rafa fans that they should not expect instantanious sucess,and if you read the Rafa fans posts thats exactly what they are not doing,so i think you should cut him and us a bit of slack,i know Novaks your second favorite and your desperate for him to lift the RG trophy,but between now and then a lot could happen,and it aint necassarily like Wogboy says a shoo that all of a sudden he will make the final even if Rafa were not at his best,as he came close to losing to JWT last year,to add to that Rogers also an excellent CC player,and Andy also seems hungry,so i would not be so quick to give the trophy to your 2nd favorite just yet.

Has anyone heard anything about rafa’s Hoffa’s syndrome or the slight tear in his patella tendon since last year? It just seems to be about his tendonitis, or am I totally way off base? Or does it all come under the heading of his sore knees?

I am a big fan of Nadal, but he and his team just keep making one immature decision after another. Anyone with a double digit IQ would have told them that playing both doubles and singles while coming after a 7-month lay-off is quite stupid. [forget the blind rafa fans, they cannot see or say the truth]

this just vindicates all the nadal detractors and their criticism of his team’s decision. Please rafa get some wise guys into your team. your scheduling and planning is worse than a kid in elementary schools!

Even I have repeated many times that Rafa cannot expect instantaneous results as he too is mere mortal. It is pretty tough for a player to start with a bang after a long lay off. So, although it was a shock to me that he was beaten by a little known Zeballos on his favourite surface, I knew Rafa would take it in his stride to motive himself for his future battles. This was said under the premise that Nadal had fully recovered. But the problem here is deeper for Nadal. From what he is reiterating in his interviews of late, it appears that his legs are still troubling him and he has not recovered completely and so the problem remains. He might require a surgery but that will keep out of play for more than a year. So, it is a choice between a rock and hard place for Rafa. Only we can pity his plight. As regards Novak, it is true that even last year he was close to elimination at the semis and he had tough matches early on. So, it is not certain that he would win even in the absence of Rafa. But, then who are you going to pick from the three – Murray & Roger ?? I do not think Andy is such a good player on Clay and Roger’s best years are behind him and clay will be his least preferred surface now. So, the obvious choice is Novak considering that he has the momentum going ahead for he has already won the first slam of the year.

Yeah. Nothing is certain. I agree. But who will you pick from the top three other than Novak ? I think he is the best bet on Clay today in the absence of Rafa. Even Monte Carlo, he is in with a chance and Rafa might not go on to pick his 9th which would be just phenomenal, not that 8 is already.

Michael you missed my point,in that a lot can happen between now and RG,im not saying even a fully fit Rafa is definetly a cert for the title either,im just saying much can happen between now and then,the FO is still months away,Rafa may be fine by then hopefully,i just think its rather unfair to judge him on one tourney back,even though he made two finals last week,although im in agreement that the doubles is a bad idea,i mean maybe your all right and he will never be the same player again,but its a shame after just one tourney back that hes getting completely written off,as for Andy never has doesnt always mean never will,and Rogers won the title once,so whos to say he cant win it again,and Delpo has done well on clay,and is capable of troubling any of the top players on a good day,im sorry like i say i know hes your second favorite,but i hope for a well contested year with plenty of competition,and not with any one player dominating,not a repeat of 2011,no disrespect Novak fans.

Did anyone hear that story about Oscar Pistorius (aka “The Blade Runner”)shooting his model wife dead on valentines day! Apparently he thought there was an intruder entering his house(which was actually his wife) so he shot the person dead in self defence. LOL

I have to agree with Ben and say im rather disgusted with that comment from Thomas,just what were the moderators thinking of letting a comment like that through?its a tragedy hardly something to laugh about.

I’d just like to make a point. A few days ago (last week?) Pete Bodo wrote an article that, according to Rafa fans, spewed hatred towards Nadal. And apparently, Bodo has always been a Nadal hater and loves to take shots at him.

Today, Steve Tignor wrote an article comparing Kuerten and Nadal and how they’d match up against each other (very interesting, imo). The first comment I saw was from a Fed fan who claimed that Tignor takes every chance he gets to show off how much he loves Nadal, or something like that.

When did it become a crime to have favorites/dislike other players? Why can’t Tignor be a Nadal fan while Bodo is not so much? What is this ridiculous war that keeps waging?

skeezer. Did Fed respond? If so , I have a pretty good idea of his response. something along the lines :
My dear faithful fan skeezer,
Thank you so much for your good wishes.
I am not really celebrating Valentines Day, not in the mood.
Everybody keeps reminding me that Rafa is back and I just wish he would retire already. I can’t face the thought of him kicking my butt, pumping his fists and lifting the Trophies.
Thank you for thinking of me.
Your Idol.
RF

At least we, Nole fans, didn’t have to worry about St Valentines day like skeezer and Giles, we don’t celebrate that one, on the 14th of February we celebrate St Trifun day, much better than St Valentines, check it up;)

Tennis needs a new guy with a better personality, all these guys seem so stiff and exactly the same. When Isner is the best America contender, no one is going to pay attention, this article talks about what needs to happen to tennis its great! http://fanonomics.com/2013/02/14/the-next-macenroe/

Jim great article,hmm interesting tennis needs a bad boy,ok have to say Tomic is talented,and has yet to make a significant breakthrough in tennis,but certainly likes to court controversy,i hope he matures into a really good tennis player,although a little bit of attitude is also quite refreshing sometimes too.

Lou-Tennisfan nice link,as a Rafa fan i love the photo and handshake between the two men,nice these two great players have such respect for one another,shame the same cant be said of their fans,Bens post at 1.32pm really fell on deaf ears (sigh).

Thank you-same to you.
I have not been on site for a week-busy in life, also its dead season in tennis and some conversations on this blog can go over and over…(like a match fixing, weak era argument, Rafas knees, how many grand slams will Novak win…)-Anyway, I’m sure you are happy that Rafas is back.Regarding LVC-they did not have a good manager for a long time (nothing wrong with current one-but with smaller club-to big shoes for him,Daglish-so-so, Banitez-did not like him, all that rotating stuff…They better start changing things around cause Totenham and Man City are passing LVC in stature.

Nah sore throat,headache,cough,runny nose,this has been the worst st valentines day ever,im gald Rafas back playing,but at the moment the jurys still out on his form,and the way hes playing,agree about LVC too they are at best a top 10 side,and sadly they are not left in any of the cup competitions either,sadly a shadow of the team they used to be.

Alison, Please do not get me wrong. I am not writing off Rafa. If not this year, he may bounce back next year. Ofcourse there is a lot to play for till the Rolland Garros and anything may happen. But, can we not just speculate about the likely favourites ?

Michael yeah of course we can,and im not saying otherwise,and thats exactly what i myself was doing,theres nothing wrong with speculating,but what does get annoying is when a poster thinks they have a monopoly on knowing more than the rest of us,or rather thinking that they do,when in fact nobody knows anymore than anybody else,same applies to you, me,Jamie or anybody else for that matter,ive heard it all week Fedal are done winning GS,you heard it here ist,followed by a barrage of abuse and name calling,untill both retire there is still always a chance they both will win more GS.

Alison, Favouritism manifest itself into bias. I do not know about others. But I always try to be as fair as possible while analysing Tennis. But I agree I am not perfect. How can I be when even God is not perfect ? Regarding the future, we can only hazard a guess. It might be right or wrong more or less like astrological or Nostramadus predictions. We try to make a judgement depending upon the form of a particular player. But Tennis is such a competitive sport that all our calculations can go wrong. Even Novak was quite lucky to reach the Australian Open finals and he should have definitely lost the match against Wawrinka. But somehow he managed to wriggle himself out of that deep hole and finally won the Australian Open. That is the quality of a Champion. A champion is different from other players in the sense that they will win a match even when they are not playing at their best which Novak is doing now-a-days. He is a player who plays well and has also got loads of luck on his side. Probably the law of averages is evening out when he was dislodged by the Fedal era in his early career. As regards 2013, it is still wide open. But Novak has definitely started well. It remains to be seen if he can take this momentum forward.